Engine Overheated to Disconnected Impeller Pump Line During Winterization

[Erik2393]

So we usually have my local dealership winterize our boat every year, however, last year I did a winterization party where a traveling mechanic (not backed by a dealer) did a group of our boats.

Guy is a very reputable mechanic and well known in the area, but, mistakes still happen and unfortunately we experienced one of those.

Last weekend we took the boat out to water test and after idling away from the dock (300+ yards) started getting high temp warnings.

I shut the boat down and let it sit for about 15 minutes.

I then turned it back on and quickly put in to gear to see if temps would go down and this time had 206 and saw smoke coming from engine bay so I immediately shut it off again.

I jumped in to the back and opened the hatch to put my hand near the impeller cap to see if it was burning up and found that the circulating hose from the lower inlet never got hooked back up.

I re-installed and waited around 20 minutes for engine to cool down and tried to fire it up again but this time engine would not start - starter wasn't even running I would just hear a click and absolutely nothing would happen.

I'm hoping this is just a safety in the boat due to the hot engine but we got a tow back to shore and floated it up on the trailer.


Now that it's home I'm doing the following to double check before I try to turn it over again:

• Replacing impeller (assuming it's shot and always cheap insurance)
• Double checking oil levels
• Reviewing all the water coolant lines, drain plugs, etc. to make sure nothing else was left off

When I go to fire up I'll be using a fake-o-lake and intend to pull the kill switch by the throttle to keep from any spark igniting engine to try to draw a little water in to the system first, then I'll replace the kill switch and attempt to turn engine over and closely monitor heat and water coming out of the rear.


Any other preventative maintenance tips to avoid any catastrophe assuming I'm not already in hot water because of this?

I've been waiting for this mechanic to go through the boat with me to try to keep him liable but I've called and left messages and I'm getting nothing back.

Thanks for any help!

Erik

[bsreid]

The smoke you’re seeing way likely just steam from the water coming out of the disconnected hose and the hot engine. Check your coolant levels if it’s a raptor, replace the impeller and you should be fine.

[chpthril]

Honestly, if you paid an actual company to do the work and it resulted in an issue, I would not try to resolve it yourself. By changing the impeller, reinstalling the hose and changing the impeller, you have shifted the blame from them to you. it would be very easy to say there was not an issue until the customer replaced the impeller themselves.

This is why many dealers leave plugs out during winterizing.

I would pull the hose back off and delete this thread and contact the shop that did the winterizing.